The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

by Arthur L. Caplan & Lee H. Igel

The NYU Sports & Society Program

Twenty four years ago this month, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti stood at a lectern and announced that baseball was banning Pete Rose, the all-time hit king, for acts that had “stained the game.” Today, current Commissioner Bud Selig announced that baseball would be suspending Alex Rodriguez, one of its recent superstars, for the remainder of this season and all of the next one following his connection to the distribution and use of performance enhancing substances through a now-closed pseudo medical clinic called Biogenesis. Rodriguez, incredibly, took the field for the New York Yankees in tonight's game against the Chicago White Sox. He doesn't belong there. If Rose stained the game, Rodriguez desecrated it.

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankess speaks to the media before his rehabilitation assignment game for the Charleston RiverDogs in Charleston, South Carolina on July 2, 2013. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Rodriguez has never been disciplined by MLB for a drug offense. So, there's a group of people who believe that he's being unfairly penalized. They've been some sniping at MLB, Yankees brass, members of media, and fans who think that Rodriguez is getting a little of what he deserves. But that's misplaced. Rodriguez brought this on himself. All along, he has been fighting the suspension—and not the allegations that he used PEDs, had links to Biogenesis, or obstructed investigators.

In the run-up to today's announcement, speculation about what “dirt” MLB investigators had on Rodriguez led to debate about how severe his punishment should be. Is he just another PEDs user, but being singled out because he is one of the biggest names in sports and the richest player in baseball? Is he being made to pay by MLB for admitted PEDs use that predates the Biogenesis mess? Is he the victim of Yankees executives who are willing to find any way out of having to dole out dollars for a big-money, long-term contract that hasn't held up in value?

Legal minds are going to have a field day with the implications for collective bargaining, employees' rights, grievances, appeals, and so on. And all of that before adding on layers of controlled substances and drug trafficking laws, as well as MLB rules and regulations. But none of these things is what ultimately caught up with Rodriguez. What did is his not having the decency to go quietly.

Rodriguez has been peddling a telltale message of credit and blame for years. When he was outed in 2009 for failing a confidential drug test in 2003, he admitted to PEDs use but explained it as an act of immature curiosity. When he split from long-time agent Scott Boras after a contract announcement invaded the broadcast of a World Series game, Rodriguez likened the situation to a “bad nightmare” and insisted that he had to be “accountable for my own life.” When he discussed his attitude towards relationships with others, he traded on an upbringing shaped by a self-assured mother who worked hard to raise three children and a doting father who ultimately abandoned them.

Events across the lifespan can and do change people. But, for nearly a decade, Rodriguez has shown himself to be a frequent embarrassment. Lately, he has been simply tone deaf to what his continued presence on the field means. If he has any sense of decency, he will not head out on the field again. A game that has no place for Pete Rose is a game that Alex Rodriguez should no longer play.

Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center. Lee H. Igel, PhD, is associate professor in the Tisch Center at New York University. Both are affiliated with NYU’s Sports and Society Program.